Child Item

Site Totals

61366 Questions Answered 267 Categories

Extended storage(esata) on DVR.

I have not made the switch yet to FIOS because of the very poor space limitations on them. However, when I chatted with someone in the verizon online chat today, I got the attached response. Can someone, preferably from Verizon, also confirm this is true? Can you in fact add your own hard drive through the ESATA port now?

Didn't seem to like myh image. Here is the direct link. http://www.mistrhanky.com/verizonchat.jpg

Message Edited by mistrhanky on 12-19-2008 08:41 PM

Comments

Stew

Unless the earth has been moved off it's axis, there isn't a Motorola DVR anywhere that has an active ESATA port. The best you could do would be to go with TIVO if you're looking for additional space.

mistrhanky

LOL. Yeah, that is basically why I put it up. Since two different verizon reps have now told me it is supported. By the way, do you happen to know if you you can view the content from a home media dvr on another hd dvr? In other words, if I have the home media dvr, and another hd dvr box from Verizon, when I try and watch media from the HM dvr that was recorded in HD, will I be able to watch it remotely in HD?

Anyway, thanks for the help. I don't know if you read the link to my chat or not, but they are clearly saying the do support the extended space now, but I wonder if that is just a salesperson saying anything to get a sale...

KenAF

@mistrhanky wrote:
LOL. Yeah, that is basically why I put it up. Since two different verizon reps have now told me it is supported. By the way, do you happen to know if you you can view the content from a home media dvr on another hd dvr? In other words, if I have the home media dvr, and another hd dvr box from Verizon, when I try and watch media from the HM dvr that was recorded in HD, will I be able to watch it remotely in HD?
Anyway, thanks for the help. I don't know if you read the link to my chat or not, but they are clearly saying the do support the extended space now, but I wonder if that is just a salesperson saying anything to get a sale...

As of last night, Verizon's DVRs do not support eSATA expansion. I'm not aware of any Motorola DVR from any provider in the U.S. with functional eSATA support today.

You cannot share media on the home media DVR with another DVR. Media sharing is only available with the SD and HD STBs at this time.

mistrhanky

Wow. That is worse than I thought. I thought it was just a matter of whether the HD content would stream in hd or not. I did not realize a dvr box could not pull from the HM dvr. Thanks for your help.

Any word on the activation of the Esata port?

I called tech support a couple of nights ago, and was informed it isn't active at this time; but, the tech support rep didn't seem very knowledgeable regarding this subject so, I wanted to see if there is any updated and accurate information with this port.

Joe01880

@D1 wrote:
Any word on the activation of the Esata port?

No!

prisaz

Perhaps when Motorola can make it work, Verizon and others can start to use the ports for expanded recording. I think many of the issues revolve around HDCP. Ever try Blueray with the wrong video card.

Message Edited by prisaz on 03-20-2009 05:52 PM

CharlesH

HDCP is the devil. It's all about the industry not standardizing HDMI completely.

Message Edited by CharlesH on 03-20-2009 06:02 PM

hofs1

If HDCP is such the issue with hdmi and dvr and esata use..........why is it that Scientific Atlanta can make it work on their hdmi capable dvr?????????? Its all about Motorola not wanting to actually fix or enable the option thats all its about they put the port on the box when they designed didnt they???????

CharlesH

Well hdcp has nothing to do with estata, but esata/usb/firewire why it was never implemented in the get-go is beyond me.

cjacobs001

digital rights management may be the issue. - If the ports were useable and a customer copied a movie over to an attached storage device, then detached that device and played it elsewhere or made copies of it, who is enabling the piracy ? Now, I have heard that it might be coming that new programming in a DVR will be able to 'register' an attached storage device that might then only be able to be used when attached to another device with the same new programming . .

KenAF

@cjacobs001 wrote:
digital rights management may be the issue. - If the ports were useable and a customer copied a movie over to an attached storage device, then detached that device and played it elsewhere or made copies of it, who is enabling the piracy ? Now, I have heard that it might be coming that new programming in a DVR will be able to 'register' an attached storage device that might then only be able to be used when attached to another device with the same new programming . .

If / when eSATA is enabled on the QIP7216 DVR, all recordings on the external drive will be tied to the internal drive. They'll be encrypted; they won't be viewable on a PC or any other device. It's entirely possible that the recordings will be split across the internal and external drive, resulting in the loss of all recordings when the drive is removed.

prisaz

@hofs1 wrote:
If HDCP is such the issue with hdmi and dvr and esata use..........why is it that Scientific Atlanta can make it work on their hdmi capable dvr?????????? Its all about Motorola not wanting to actually fix or enable the option thats all its about they put the port on the box when they designed didnt they???????

I will not disagree with you on that!

Yes it is digital rights management. Which HDCP has much to do with. HDCP does have soem things to do with rights management. But not E-sata directly.

Verizon can not use a feature that Motorola can not enable because prehaps their hardware can not be made HDCP compliant. Just my guess. Yes Motorola. Perhaps soon we will have other options. Right now it's Motorola or Tivo. I had to change the video card in my PC becuase of HDCP compliance with BlueRay. I imagine if there were hardware issues with Motorola's hardware compliance it could be the problem they cant fix without redesigning the box and trashing existing boxes. If HDCP was not an issue everyone would be putting out cable card capable tuners for PCs. I for one being a system builder would love to see it. But it all goes back to hardware compliance. Bites don't it!

Message Edited by prisaz on 03-21-2009 01:56 PM

prisaz

@KenAF wrote:
@cjacobs001 wrote:
digital rights management may be the issue. - If the ports were useable and a customer copied a movie over to an attached storage device, then detached that device and played it elsewhere or made copies of it, who is enabling the piracy ? Now, I have heard that it might be coming that new programming in a DVR will be able to 'register' an attached storage device that might then only be able to be used when attached to another device with the same new programming . .
If / when eSATA is enabled on the QIP7216 DVR, all recordings on the external drive will be tied to the internal drive. They'll be encrypted; they won't be viewable on a PC or any other device. It's entirely possible that the recordings will be split across the internal and external drive, resulting in the loss of all recordings when the drive is removed.

Yea I would second that. It should be capable, but do you think the STB existing CPU could handle all the encryption on the external drive, the IP and everything else at the same time? I think we have plenty of existing issues with the STB without adding more. We either need to wait for a better box or buy a TIVO.

Message Edited by prisaz on 03-21-2009 02:01 PM

KenAF

@prisaz wrote:
@KenAF wrote:
@cjacobs001 wrote:
digital rights management may be the issue. - If the ports were useable and a customer copied a movie over to an attached storage device, then detached that device and played it elsewhere or made copies of it, who is enabling the piracy ? Now, I have heard that it might be coming that new programming in a DVR will be able to 'register' an attached storage device that might then only be able to be used when attached to another device with the same new programming . .
If / when eSATA is enabled on the QIP7216 DVR, all recordings on the external drive will be tied to the internal drive. They'll be encrypted; they won't be viewable on a PC or any other device. It's entirely possible that the recordings will be split across the internal and external drive, resulting in the loss of all recordings when the drive is removed.
Yea I would second that. It should be capable, but do you think the STB existing CPU could handle all the encryption on the external drive, the IP and everything else at the same time

As I noted in another thread, the problem with adding / enabling features is that these Motorola DVRs are based on rather slow processors with limited memory and limited bus and memory bandwidth. This limits what Verizon can do with their DVR at any given time. The FiOS DVR can record two different HD programs, while you watch a third, previously recorded show...while it streams a fourth HDTV MPEG-2 recording to a HDTV STB elsewhere in your home. That consumes most of the available resources on the Motorola platform, which makes it very tricky to support other features. Motorola may still find a way, but it will take a fair bit of work to deliver eSATA expansion that is reliable.

Child Item